change your life. go for a run.

Main menu

Tag Archives: Kick Ass 5K

There is so much that I love about giving presents. Some people love getting presents, I love giving them.

So, without further ado and with my deepest thanks to all of you once again for helping me be a VIP Fundraiser on Team Challenge Greater New York at the All State Chicago 13.1 Half Marathon.

VIP Party!!!! Woohoo!!!!!

And the winner of the stay at Casa Heavenly in Acapulco, Mexico is….

Sara H.

There is only 1 SARA H. and you will be receiving an email from me in the next 24 hours with the contact information. Congratulations.

Just in case anyone wanted to know how the winners were all chosen:

– Donors were assigned numbers based on order of donation from first to last. There were 847 numbers given out.
– I put the limits in the Random.org number generator for the Acapulco trip first so everyone had every chance to win.

For the rest of the prizes:

– Each prize was assigned a random number by the Random.org number generator. If a number came up twice, another one was chosen.

So, congratulations, Sara H.! And congratulations to the rest of the winners of the prizes:

All of you will be receiving an email from me so I can get you your fabulous prize!

Congratulations to all of you and, again, I cannot thank you enough for your donations, your participation in my Kick Ass 5K, and your support along this journey. Thanks for getting me to the finish line.

Of course every race needs a commemorative shirt. These little gems will be going on sale in two weeks. 100% of proceeds go to Team Challenge!

I’ll probably need one of each.

My sincerest thanks to all who donated and participated.

And now, without further ado, I’d like to present to you the finishers (who sent me their photos!) of the Kick Ass Virtual 5K to benefit the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.

Did you spot my two siblings? There are also 3 classmates in there, one Lulunatic run club, and several IBD sisters and brothers. Thank you, thank you, thank you all. It was a blast.

Don’t forget to keep your eye out for the t-shirt sale the last week of April! Limited time only. Remember, you can still donate and be entered into the Acapulco trip raffle! Tickets are $20/each–donate here to be entered!

First off, thank you so much to all of you who participated in yesterday’s Virtual Kick Ass 5K! Remember, send me a picture of you and your race bib and you get another entry into the seriously amazing raffle I am hosting.

Today closes the race raffle. From here on out, raffle tickets are $20 per ticket and you donate on my fundraising page. Don’t forget to email me that you donated so I can make sure I get all your information correct in case you win!

Can you picture you and 9 of your friends here? I can.

Fitness trends are a dime a dozen, especially here in NYC. Part of the reason I love living in the city is that we get all the best workouts, oftentimes before everyone else. One of the recent trends that has received some attention are doubles.

From a purely physiological standpoint, most doubles are fine. In fact, I’m a big fan. I’ve been known to run to and from the gym or yoga studio and even host BRick workouts with Flywheel.

We ride and then we run!

Two-a-day runs are something I love to do in the summer when it’s too hot to get a lot of morning miles in or I’m busy, busy, busy. I’d actually love to swim outdoors in the summer but outdoor pools are in short supply in midtown.

I cannot stress enough how quickly these kind of workouts can lead to overtraining.

Why? Because you fatigue your muscles doing one exercise and then ask them to go and do another. Your body can only do so much. Something’s going to give: your form, your muscles, your strength, your blood sugar, and then you’ll really be in trouble.

Haha. So funny…until this is you.

Also,

I do NOT recommend doing a weight training/strength training workout the same day as a long run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yoga, bootcamp, weight lifting, pilates, anything! If you are a runner, long run days are sacred. Run, stretch, foam roll, ice, relax. Your body will be too tired and too depleted to have a productive strength training session.

And form is EVERYTHING where gaining strength is concerned.

You don’t wanna be THIS guy, do you?(Image courtesy of vector.rs)

By all means, give a double a shot. But listen to your body. If your form is going to pot or you feel lightheaded or nauseous, go home, eat something, and call it a day.

So many of you have already emailed, Tweeted, and Facebooked (did I just make that word up?) me your photos from your Virtual 5K this morning. Keep ’em coming, your photo gets you another raffle entry AND makes me smile.

Ok, they also make me cry a little. But mostly smile.

BIG smiles for such an early hour of the morning!

This has obviously been a HUGE undertaking for me these past few weeks. With finals kicking in, training amping up, and wedding/shower/baby season getting into full swing, this is a Crazy time of year.

I have never shied away from the Crazy. I was, after all, a musical theater major in my first undergraduate career. I think we can all agree that none of us in that program are working with a full deck. But even when things get Crazy in life, I tend to do just fine.

I mean, sometimes I get a little narcoleptic but seriously, who doesn’t every now and again?

“If you want something done, ask a busy person” ~Lucille Ball

In my world, it would be more like, “If you want something done, ask CRAZY busy Abby.” For better or for worse, I am a girl who operates best when my plate is full overflowing. When life is Crazy, I am at my most efficient.

For me, Crazy means that I have a lot of amazing things happening in my life.

No matter how much I complain (and whine and cry and whine and cry…) about how Crazy I am with finals, I absolutely cannot WAIT to be a physical therapist so I can practice what I’ve been learning.

Name tag-got it. White coat-ordered. Soooooooooo close (but not really).

No matter how Crazy busy work gets, especially with school and life, I have the best clients who trust me with their fitness and health. I love helping them meet their physical goals.

And when I have 5 weddings and 6 baby showers to go to in 6 months (6 MONTHS!!!) and my weekends are Crazy packed with parties, I am reminded that this is such a beautiful time for my friends and family. New journeys, new life. And parties are fun.

And babies. I LOVE babies.

No matter how Crazy things get, I try to remind myself that they are all a GOOD Crazy. Life is happening all around and embracing the Crazy is the only way for me to stay positive and happy cuz life isn’t gonna slow down and I don’t plan on slowing down either.

And isn’t that a better way to go through life? Happy, positive, and grateful for the Crazy. Way better than the alternative, right?

Yesterday’s track workout with Birdie kicked my butt. She was doing ladders, I was doing stair-step repeats. We were both sprinting at breakneck pace all over the track. And man, oh man!, was it COLD out there.

It seems that I can’t do a track workout without it being #1. FREEZING and #2. WINDY. What is the deal? I know it’s on the East River but it’s not like it’s on the Atlantic Ocean. Gimme a break.

But we still gave our workouts our all and powered through, dry heaves and all. That workout is exactly why I was a lousy track runner: distances less than 15K are not for me.

The one thing I do like about running on a track is the home stretch. Finishing on a 100 meter straightaway is one of my favorite places to give that little extra something. I run a little harder (or not, maybe I’m just maintaing pace at that point–who knows?), I push a little more. I love that finish line.

Cookie Monster knows what I’m talking about.

I have a harder time giving a little extra something in the gym. All I can think about is doing too much and hurting myself. It happened in spin class once and I ended up with a really angry TFL.

So I tend to steadily increase my weight and difficulty of exercises. In my professional opinion, this is a much safer way to go for more difficult, strenuous actions.

Me and my 20s are BFFs. Outside of leg and back work, these bad boys are all I really need.

I’m SO EXCITED to share with you a very special person and family friend who gave a little extra something to add to the already awesome raffle prize pool. Are you ready? Hold onto your hats!!!

Post navigation

Hi, I'm Abby! I'm a runner, coach, personal trainer, Lululemon Athletica Ambassador Alumni, and physical therapy student living and loving life in NYC. I love to run, eat and play with my husband and my very large family. What are you waiting for? Join me on my fitness journey--lace up those running shoes and change your life!

run stronger every day email subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to the run stronger every day blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.